HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Breastfeeding and lyme?

Support Forums
>
Lyme Disease
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 6/6/2015 4:05 PM (GMT 0)
Hi,

I have my first llmd appt next week, and I am not sure she's a breastfeeding supporter or knowledgeable about different meds & how they interact with bf.

A lot of docs ask moms to wean in order to err on the side of caution, but really there are only a handful of drugs that are true contraindications to breastfeeding.

I would appreciate knowing what other nursing moms' (or former nursing moms) experiences have been in this area.

Thanks!
Posted 6/7/2015 4:04 AM (GMT 0)
Moonflower, it sounds like you have already had some sort of conversation with your doctor about breastfeeding while infected.

Not enough is known about Lyme and breastfeeding and if Lyme and co-infections can transfer to the child via the milk. I would imagine that your doctor wants to be safe and not take chances with your child getting infected via the breast milk.
Posted 6/8/2015 7:46 PM (GMT 0)
Unfortunately not enough is know about breastfeeding and Lyme. I breastfed my daughter who was born with Lyme but at the time I didn't know I had Lyme and I passed it onto her. I am pretty sure I passed it to her while I was pregnant with her and it was not the breastfeeding. I had a lot of issues while I was pregnant and she was not growing in my belly so she had to be taken by C-section 3 weeks early.
With my son I knew I had Lyme and he was a surprise - not expecting to get pregnant while I was in the thick of treatment. I was on meds while pregnant with him and had his cord blood tested and he tested negative. I did not breast feed him because I didn't want to chance it already having one child with Lyme. I think it's a personal decision. I just knew my son was born healthy so I felt like I wanted to keep it that way. I loved breastfeeding both of my daughters so this was hard for me but it was the best choice for him.
Good luck!
Posted 6/8/2015 8:00 PM (GMT 0)
I've had Lyme for most of my life but didn't know it until almost three years after my son was born. I breastfed him and began weaning after his first birthday. He has Lyme and is responding well to treatment. I'm sure I passed Lyme to him. While it's impossible to know whether he got it during pregnancy or after, I believe he benefited significantly from breastfeeding. During his first year, he was pretty healthy. He did have colic and reflux, which may have been symptoms of Lyme, but he didn't have any ear infections that year. Within a year of weaning, he had three ear infections. It wasn't until he was 2 1/2 or so that he showed any joint pain. If I could do it over, I would have breastfed longer because I'm convinced that the antibodies in the breast milk kept him healthier.
Posted 6/9/2015 9:53 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks for your responses. How maddening to not know for sure whether breastmilk can carry lyme! I don't want to be in the position of being asked to wean before we are ready without thorough understanding of how meds interact in breastmilk. I am hoping my llmd is knowledgeable about it.
Posted 6/9/2015 7:46 PM (GMT 0)
My LLMD told me that breastfeeding "should" be fine while on meds. She was not concerned about the med and my OBGYN was not concerned about the ABX at all since I was on them while pregnant with my son. Interesting enough my two daughters had so many ear infections in their first year of life that they both had tubes and I breastfed both of them and my son who I did not breastfeed at all is 3 now and has never had an ear infection. I always wonder if it was because I was on amox and zithro while pregnant with him. I guess there is no way to be sure.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply